Tag: control

Two thirds of Americans support stricter gun laws: poll

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Americans support stricter gun laws by a more-than two-to-one margin, one of the highest levels on record, a polling agency reported Tuesday one week after the latest US school shooting left 17 people dead. The tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida has shocked many Americans, inspired students to launch campaigns to reduce gun violence, and put Congress and President Donald Trump’s administration in the spotlight as they consider […]

Continue Reading →

Starbucks takes full control of China stores in $1.3 bn deal

SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — United States coffee chain Starbucks has announced it will take full control of its mainland China outlets in a $1.3 billion deal, the largest single acquisition in the company’s history. It will buy the remaining 50 percent of its East China joint venture from Taiwan’s food and beverage giant Uni-President, according to a company statement issued Thursday. Starbucks will gain full control of 1,300 stores in 25 cities, including commercial hub […]

Continue Reading →

Aleppo’s fall seals victory for authoritarian alliance

by Cécile Feulitarre Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The fall of Aleppo marks the victory of an authoritarian alliance stretching from Tehran to Moscow, analysts say — and the biggest win yet for President Bashar al-Assad since civil war erupted in 2011. His regime’s total control over east Aleppo, declared Thursday, was obtained with pitiless brute force that has reduced much of the country’s former economic heart to rubble, in a war that […]

Continue Reading →

Trump blasts ‘out of control’ costs for F-35 fighter

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President-elect Donald Trump took aim Monday at a second US aerospace giant in as many weeks, this time attacking the F-35 stealth fighter and its “out of control” costs. With a current development and acquisition price tag of $379 billion for a total of 2,443 F-35 aircraft — most of them destined for the Air Force — the Lockheed Martin-built plane is the most expensive in history, and costs are […]

Continue Reading →